Barberton noise angers residents

BARBERTON - Businesses and residents of De Villiers Street have had enough of the noise and disruption caused by two taverns in the street.

The noise, which has been an issue for the last four years, reached a boiling point on May 9 when the one tavern,

Inni Donga, hosted a strip show which attracted an estimated 500 people.

“We can’t live in our own homes,” said one resident, who spoke to Lowvelder on condition of anonymity.

A major gripe is that the tavern’s clients park and drink in the streets as soon as the tavern closes.

“They start drinking out of their cars. They even have camping chairs and cooler boxes. Then they unload boxes and boxes of alcohol and just drink next to the curb.”

A group of pensioners live a few hundred metres from the bars and say they struggle to sleep.

“They do their business on our lawns,” said one woman. “They start fights and scream. This is not how I wanted to spend my retirement.”

“I can’t even go to church on Sundays because I’m so tired after not being able to sleep,” said another.

Another surrounding business owner said his property is filthy when he comes in on Mondays.

“You won’t believe the amount of broken glass we have to clean up,” he said. “I live a little more than 200 metres away. I can hear every scream, every lyric and every conversation.”

All the people Lowvelder spoke to said the police were no help.

Bheki Nsingwane, who currently has the lease on Inni Donga tavern, said he got nervous when his clients partied in the streets as he would be the one in trouble and his permits would be at risk of being revoked.

“But the police just drive past. They don’t do anything,” he said.

“We’ve raided them before, but they just open back up. We don’t have the manpower or the resources to keep doing this,” said one police officer, who did not wished to be named as they did not have permission to speak to the media.

Barberton police confirmed that Inni Donga’s liquor licence expired in midDecember, but Nsingwane claimed that he was in possession of a valid liquor licence.

According to residents and partygoers alike, no Covid-19 protocols are followed at the taverns.

“There isn’t a mask in sight,” said one business owner who chose not to be named for fear of retaliation.

“There’s no curfew whatsoever when it comes to these people,” said one resident of the area.